


Leaning

by beloved_key



Series: Delegation [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Emetophobia, Hurt/Comfort, Illness, Keith (Voltron) Needs a Hug, Keith (Voltron) is a Mess, Shiro (Voltron) is Missing, Sickfic, Whump, slight AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2018-12-05
Packaged: 2019-09-12 01:13:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16863466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beloved_key/pseuds/beloved_key
Summary: He was not going to give in.He was not going to throw up.---OR Keith is working himself into the ground trying to keep Voltron together after Shiro's disappearance, doesn't know what "delegation" means, and Lance comes to the rescue.





	Leaning

He was not going to do it.

It was not going to happen.

He was not going to allow it to happen.

Keith had been standing in front of the toilet for about an hour now, and he’d barely moved an inch from his rigid, uncomfortable position; legs locked so he didn’t collapse, jaw clenched firmly shut, eyes barely blinking and trained on the water, fists clenched. He had no intention of moving until the threatening clench-and-churn his stomach had been putting him through--all day, but a lot worse now--ceased for good.

He was not going to give in.

He was not going to throw up.

Even thinking about it sent a jolt of panic through his chest, down to his still-roiling stomach, which gave another insistent, painful twist. Keith moved for the first time in awhile, but it was only to wince and hiss in pain through clenched teeth, then resume his previous stance, firmly ignoring all the warning signs as beads of sweat dripped down the back his feverish neck.

The loss of control was the worst part; sure, the human (or mostly human) body performed most of its tasks on its own, but aside from the occasional reflex, anything major required Keith’s permission. But throwing up? The moment it started, you were out of the pilot’s seat. The muscles in your abdomen spasming, forcing acid and whatever you’d managed to down recently up and out, and you couldn’t stop it, you couldn’t even slow down for a breather, it just kept going and going and--

Another jolt of panic, another squeeze from the fist clutching his stomach. This time Keith had to actually clap a hand to his mouth, eyes widening as he tasted that telltale, coppery warning…

A few minutes of shaky breathing, and Keith hesitantly lowered his hand. His abs were sore and he hadn’t even thrown up yet--because he wasn’t going to god dammit not this time not ever--

But whatever this spacebound stomach bug was, it disagreed. With a sudden, violent lurch, Keith collapsed at the foot of the toilet, and proceeded to lose the small amount of food goo he’d eaten earlier and all of the stomach acid that had been working on it.

He was shaking, it hurt, it just wouldn’t stop, and Keith couldn’t help the hot tears pouring down his face, from pain and panic alike. He hated this, he couldn’t stop it, he couldn’t do anything, why why why why why--

Suddenly, gentle hands were pulling his hair out of his face, and… Tying it back? He was worried about the mess that had probably ended up in a few strands (not his greatest concern at the moment, but still) but soon realized it was no issue; whoever it was that had found him had brought a damp cloth, and was carefully wiping down the edges of his bangs.

Who was it? For a wild moment, Keith’s mind jumped to Shiro, but that was impossible. Shiro was still missing, and remembering that brought a now-familiar pang of bitter pain to his chest, but he quickly stamped it out in favor of wondering who could be easing his shaking body against them for support?

Another violent spasm put a stop to Keith’s wonderings, bringing up another mouthful of bile. He coughed at the burning feeling it left in his throat, whimpering wholly against his will.

“Easy there, buddy, I gotcha.”

Immediately Keith felt ten times worse.

Of all the people who could’ve found him in this humiliating position, it just had to be Lance.

Lance wasn’t behaving in his typical Lance-like manner, however. He’d positioned himself next to Keith, tied his hair back, washed it off, and was now gently rubbing his back, letting the other paladin lean on him without comment, derisive, combative, or otherwise. He just murmured soothingly, voice so low that it didn’t offend Keith’s burgeoning headache (which had been present for several days now), presence firm and warm and comforting against Keith’s chilled, shuddering limbs.

Another cramp threatened to force Keith to heave again, but the knowledge that he had an audience brought back the old determination to stop it. He could take control of this, he had to take control of this, he would not--

“Hey, I know it sucks, and feels awful, and you’re tired…” Lance whispered. “But it’ll be over sooner if you just let it do its thing. I grabbed an antinausea solution from the infirmary--on my own, don’t worry!” Lance jumped to reassure Keith when he shot him a panicked look out of the corner of his eye. “I know you probably don’t want everyone seeing you like this. The solution should calm your stomach down long enough for you to get some proper sleep and start fighting this off, but you gotta get through this bout first so you don’t just throw it back up again, alright?”

Keith’s fevered brain took a moment to process Lance’s words, which made a lot of sense, but he still couldn’t stop himself from clamping his mouth shut against the next wave of bile. He jerked his gaze back down to the water (clear; Lance had flushed it when Keith wasn’t paying attention, apparently) and gripped the edges with shaking hands.

“What’s wrong? The sooner you get it over with, the sooner you can get some rest.” Keith just squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head frantically, breathing faster through clenched teeth. He could feel Lance’s concerned gaze burning into the side of his head, but he tried to ignore it.

“You’re emetophobic.” Lance realized suddenly. Keith shook his head again. “What? It makes sense, plenty of people are. It’s okay, I just wish I knew sooner, ‘cause I would’ve come looking for you an hour ago if I had.”

“Stupid.” Keith ground out.

“What?”

“It’s stupid.” Keith’s voice was shaking as hard as the rest of him. To his indignation, Lance laughed quietly.

“You guys don’t make fun of me for being claustrophobic, and you think I’m gonna hold your fear against you?” He asked, voice gently teasing in a way that made Keith feel like an idiot, but… Not in a bad way? More like an “oh-yeah-these-people-care-about-me” kind of way.

“Really hate it.” Keith added. Lance sighed, running a hand through Keith’s hair, still damp from when Lance had cleaned it.

“I know, Keith. I know. But I’m right here, okay? I got your back. You gotta know that, alright? At the end of the day, I always got your back.”

Keith got the feeling Lance was talking about more than just swooping in with a hairtie and a damp washcloth when Keith was sick, but he didn’t have time to worry about that now; when the next heave came, Keith let it. He cried again, but true to his word, Lance didn’t move, just kept holding him upright, murmuring comforting words, and soon enough, it was over, and the vicegrip that had held Keith’s stomach for hours now finally let up.

When Keith, mouth freshly rinsed and leaning up against the wall of the bathroom, managed to slowly sip down a cup of water without incident, Lance spoke up; “Let’s get you to bed, then, huh?”

Without waiting for a response, Lance knelt down and gently scooped Keith up, bridal-style. Keith didn’t protest too much; he felt weak and shaky, he hadn’t really eaten all day, and he’d just spent over an hour in his own personal hell. Not to mention the fact that he’d been working overtime for weeks before trying to find Shiro and lead Voltron and make sure everything ran smoothly and... Now that Keith thought about it, that was probably why he was down with some stomach flu-type thing, while all the others seemed to be fine. Figures.

Keith’s stomach churned slightly from the trip, but Lance’s steps were slow and impossibly smooth, and it was a short walk to Keith’s room anyway. Once inside, Lance gently set Keith down on the bed, propping him up against the wall.

“Okay, I’m gonna ask you to change your clothes--” Lance rummaged through Keith’s drawers, tossing a t-shirt and sweats over to the bed. “And I’ll go grab a cup of water and the antinausea stuff, and be right back.”

Sure enough, a few minutes later, Lance walked in with two cups, just as Keith managed to pull the t-shirt over his head. “Good, I really didn’t want to walk in on you shirtless.” Lance joked, setting down the water glass on Keith’s bedside table, then sitting next to him on the bed. “So, I checked with the Altean database-thing? And this is supposed to help you sleep, keep your stomach under control, and reduce your fever. I’ll stick around to keep an eye on you anyway, though. Don’t wanna mess around with alien meds, right?”

Keith forced down the medicine (a weird, but not quite unpleasant, flavor combination of peppermint and almond milk, with the texture of cough syrup) and grimaced, slowly lowering himself into a laying-down position. “You don’t have to, Lance, I’ll manage--”

“See, that’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about.” There it was again. That quiet, serious tone that so rarely colored Lance’s voice. The blue paladin, still seated at the edge of the bed, stared down at Keith with more worry than he’d ever had directed at him since… Well, since ever.

“What’s wrong?” Keith’s voice was raspy and quiet from the abuse his throat had just gone through, but clear. The medicine hadn’t started to work yet, which was lucky. Lance looked like he meant business.

“Keith, as much as I know you want to us to believe otherwise, the truth is you’re not Superman.”

Keith blinked up at Lance, confused. Sighing, Lance turned to look at the opposite wall instead.

“The others are too distracted to notice, and I can’t really blame them. I’ve had to put Pidge to bed every night since Shiro disappeared, Hunk’s meals have been getting more extravagant and weird by the day, Allura never leaves the command center anymore, and as a result, neither does Coran.” Lance listed off, eyes more tired than Keith had thought was possible for the energetic paladin.

“I know.” Keith croaked, voice laden with guilt. Lance glanced back over, smiling slightly and shaking his head.

“I’m not scolding you, dummy, I’m making a point.” He reassured with a little of his usual, teasing cadence. Keith rolled his eyes.

“Then go ahead and make it.”

“Fine, fine. Pushy.” Still, Lance looked away again, taking a moment to choose his words. Another unusual action for him. “It’s just… I’ve been more worried about you than all of the others combined. Because while all of that I just mentioned is perfectly in character, you’re the only one who hasn’t been behaving like yourself. You haven’t been Keith in weeks, man.”

Keith tried to cut in, but Lance just continued. “And I understand, okay? I get it. Shiro gave you this responsibility, and you never really wanted it, you didn’t have time to prepare for it, but now he’s gone, and you feel like you owe it to him to do this right. So you give pep talks, you try to stay in touch with our moods, even outside of training. You try to comfort us when we’re down about Shiro. You act all happy, then you work out your frustrations on the training deck in the middle of the night. You put on an act all day, beat yourself up all night, and then repeat. Day in, day out. And it’s killing me to watch you do it, Keith. It really, really is.”

Keith wanted to interrupt Lance, but he found himself speechless. Not only was Lance right, but he was articulating all the vague emotions and thoughts that had been running through Keith’s head for weeks. Keith had never been a social butterfly, but now he was trying to keep together a team that was barely functioning and didn’t really want to listen to him in the first place. Now that Keith thought about it, the only one who hadn’t snapped at him in a stressful moment was Lance (who also seemed to be the only other one still functioning effectively with the sudden, jarring loss of their leader and friend). That being said…

“What else can I do?” Keith winced against his burning throat, turning to stare at the opposite wall as well, expression bitter. “I-I… I can’t screw this up, Lance. I have to do this right, because it’s not like back home where if I screw up, I’m the only one that gets hurt. If I screw up at this, then not only do the people I care about end up dead, but the entire universe is fucked. So I have to, Lance.”

“No, you don’t.” Lance knelt down next to the bed, so he and Keith were at eye-level. “At least, you don’t have to do it alone. You can’t keep up with everyone’s moods? Let me help with that. You see the team needs picking up? I’m great at lightening the atmosphere.”

He reached out and gripped Keith’s still-shivering shoulder, firmly maintaining eye contact.

“You need a shoulder to lean on? I got your back.” Lance’s eyes burned with determination. “I know I don’t always make it clear, but I always have, Keith. But I can’t help if you don’t let me. And if you keep on like this, well…”

Keith didn’t need clarification on what Lance was talking about. If Keith kept this up, he’d just keep ending up right here. Sick and weak and miserable, no use to anyone.

“I…” Keith stammered, tearing up. “I-I don’t want to be the leader, Lance. I-I’m not ready.”

Lance smiled gently. “Think you could live with being one of two leaders then?”

All of a sudden, as Lance pulled him into a gentle hug, Keith realized he could. And two days later, when he emerged from his bedroom fully recovered to find that Lance had kept everything (and everyone) running smoothly in his absence, he knew he was right to trust him. With one of them in charge, things worked. But with both of them working together?

Well, if their missions as a pair were any indication, they’d do a lot more than just work.

**Author's Note:**

> One of my most popular stories over on Tumblr, I've always been really proud of this one! This also has art for it by a friend of mine from the tumblr whump community (if this is you, please message me so I can add it to this post & give proper credit!) Thanks so much for reading, feel free to comment/kudos, love you!


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